Peanut farmers racing to salvage crops

The peanut crops in Bladen County are waterlogged, causing them to germinate early. (Source: WECT)

BLADEN COUNTY, NC (WECT) -

Hurricane Matthew has left many farmers in southeastern North Carolina with damaged or water soaked crops due to strong winds and rain.

The peanut crops in Bladen County are waterlogged, causing them to germinate early. Then additional rains have also soaked the fields so the tractors and harvesters are getting stuck in the fields so they are unable to pull the peanuts from the vine.

With 10 days of off-and-on rain from the hurricane, they cannot harvest the peanuts. Farmers say it's a time sensitive event that they usually only have a two-week window to get them off the ground and that time has passed, washing away their income.

"I don't know what the loss is at this point, it could be 50 percent or better, we are losing money, and we are all in the same boat, it's gonna be a tough year," said peanut farmer Paul Skinner.

Hester Farms in Bladen County is also in the same predicament, however, their peanut harvester is stuck in the muddy fields so they aren't even able to harvest their crops.

"Every day we are sitting here we are losing $500 a day," Dan Hester explained.